Oops…Did I just catch you thinking small?

I recently ran into a young gentleman who told me he was going to start a website design business.
“Who is your business going to serve?” I asked him. “Local business owners,” he replied. “Have you ever thought about serving business owners across the world?” I asked him. “No,” he said.

By all means, I am not taking anything away from this ambitious young man. We need many more like him. I am only trying to illustrate a hugely important point that 99% of all entrepreneurs in America are missing: you can have a global business overnight, today even if you want to. In many cases, developing the global component for your business can mean the difference between success and failure.

With more and more countries coming online to the global business world, there is no reason not to take your business to the doorsteps of the new and emerging capitalist countries of the world. Moreover, you can also grow your market and have loyal customers that grow with you. What do I mean?

Let’s take another example of the website design company. Why would this young entrepreneur not look at making services available to companies and countries across the world? He could offer tremendous insights and collaboration for web design to firms, say in Eastern Europe for example, to obtain more business from U.S. companies. Why would he not look at partnering with Indian IT firms trying to gain a foothold in the U.S. market? He could provide high dollar and high-value solutions to them.

Here is another example, this time a small U.S. based sportswear company. Although gaining good traction in the U.S. market, why would this company not look at making their apparel available for sale to Europe, a continent rich with the company’s target market? Why would the company not look at developing some small and low-cost variations to its designs to accommodate people in warmer weather climates, and then market to South America (another geography with favorable demographics to the target market)?

I think what happens to U.S. entrepreneurs with regard to building global businesses is something that afflicts all of us, from time to time, in some area of our life or another. We simply set our goals to small, or worse yet, fail to set goals. If you set out to be a small, local provider of goods or services in today’s business world, you had better keep a close watch over your shoulder, as market conditions and the competitive landscape are changing so rapidly that you might find yourself obsolete before you can tally up your first year’s tax returns.

Constantly re-evaluate your goals and objectives. Think BIG AND think GLOBAL. Make sure, if you catch yourself thinking small, you stop and re-tool your mindset for the bigger picture. You will be glad you did.